Terrorism and Moral Panic in Nigeria

Terrorism and Moral Panic in Nigeria, is an investigation of the impact of terrorist attacks in the psyche of Nigerians. The sovereignty of the Nigerian state was threatened following the emergence of a terrorist group known as Boko Haram, which conquered a substantial part of Northeast Nigeria, using modern military hardware such as bombs, rockets, military tanks and high caliber machine guns. Boko Haram carried their terrorist attacks to many parts of Northern Nigeria, including Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), which made the entire country to panic by creating genuine fear of insecurity in Nigeria. The study was conducted in August and September, 2015, in Abuja. A cross-sectional survey method was used to select 276 respondents by accidental sampling technique through the use of administered questionnaire. The study indicates that there were rampant terrorist attacks in Abuja, and the frequency by which people felt panicked was high. Also, the study found the role of the mass media in spreading information about the activities of the terrorists to be high. The study indicated high perception of personal risk by the respondents with a greater percentage knowing at least one dead victim of the terrorist attacks in Nigeria. The study recommended the improvement of the nation’s security network and public enlightenment as the panacea to the security challenges facing Nigeria at the moment.


Introduction
Towards the end of the 20 th Century, there were numerous highlighted acts of terrorism targeted against foreign embassies, soldiers, politicians, religious leaders, economic investments, social infrastructures, worship places and defenseless members of the public.Then, early in this 21 st Century, the destruction of the World Trade Centre (WTC) in New York on September 11, 2001, magnified the activities and impact of terrorism on global scale (Lyman, 2011;Miller, Hess, & Orthmann, 2011;Oyeniyi, 2010;Crenshaw, 2009;Burke, 2009;Hoffman & Graham, 2006;Furedi, 2005;Goodey, 2005).These globalized acts of terror have promoted terrorism as a contemporary criminological subject.The acts of terrorism, its instruments and capabilities have kept pace with the achievements recorded in the development processes of the contemporary civilization.Terrorists have utilized all known new technologies of the modern world in areas of ballistics, aviation, marine, automobile, locomotives, pharmaceutical, financial institutions, communication, chemical and the cyberspace.Livingstone (1986, p. 137) observed that "technological innovation is one of the most powerful drivers of change in the contemporary world, and in no way is this change appears to be more of a mixed blessing than in the context of terrorism and low-intensity conflict".Livingstone further stated that, "not only does technological innovation enhanced the arsenals available to terrorists, but it provides violence-prone non-state actors with an almost limitless universe of targets and vulnerability to attack".This implies that what enhances the mobility, capabilities and the overall logistics of the terrorists are the elements of developmental innovations.The publicity given to terrorist activities within the domestic and international landscapes brought the awareness to create apprehension among the global population which results to moral panic.This implies negative societal reactions to hostile elements or conditions that are perceived as a threat to the wellbeing of the majority of the population (Ugwuoke, 2014;Greer, 2005;Marshall, 1998).On the other hand, terrorism becomes a "premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated by sub-national groups or clandestine agents against noncombatant targets, usually intended to influence an audience" (Siegel, 2010, p. 169;2005, p. 261).Acts of terrorism are deliberate creation and exploitation of fear to bring about political change (Miller, Hess, & Orthmann, 2011).Terrorism also could be seen as the activities of unlawful groups who usually use violence to attempt to intimidate a state, organizations or a section of the population into submission as an instrument of ideological, political, religious or economic bargaining.Acts of terrorism can be carried out by individuals, groups or states (Lyman, 2011).As the global landscape in the twenty-first century has transformed via globalization, the nature of terrorist organization is also changing, from primarily sub-state actors in the past, to today's transnational groups operating on global level (Howard & Traughber, 2009).
Across the globe, many countries like the United States of America, Britain, France, Spain, India, Pakistan, Somalia, Kenya, Mali and a host of other countries have had some shares of victimization from terrorism.Recently, Nigeria as a nation state is not only witnessing violent attacks by a terror group, Jama' atul alhul sunnah lida' wati wal jihad, which implies people committed to the propagation of the prophets' teachings and jihad, which is commonly known as Boko Haram, but at the same time, found herself and its federal might stretched in a combat war against the terrorists.While the activities of the terrorist group and the war against terrorism have been concentrating in the Northeast geo-political zone of the country, there have also been regular terrorist attacks in other parts of the country which had put the entire country under security alert (Olayinka & Musa, 2014;Kilete, 2014;Ebije, 2014).Despite the Federal Government's efforts to combat terrorism, the war on terrorism is still raging in the Northeast with no end in sight, while the nation's capital Abuja, had been bombed in several occasions resulting to high human casualties and infrastructural damages.The apparent problems of insecurity from terrorism as perceived by the people in Nigeria have created a kind of palpable fear among Nigerians which has given rise to moral panic.
No place appears to be safe and nor any individual free from the violence the Boko Haram terrorist group are perpetrating in Nigeria.The elderly, children, men, women, the rich and the poor, politicians, religious leaders, churches, mosques, markets, banks, security personnel and even animals like cows and goats have been subject of targeted attacks by the terrorists.Terrorism in Nigeria is now negatively affecting all fabrics of the national life.Travelling in Nigeria has become a glaring risk of adventure as motor parks have been bombed and highways ambushed.Education sector had been disrupted following the series of terrorist attacks in school campuses and other levels of education.The kidnapping of over 100 school girls of Government Secondary School, Chibok in Borno State, still dominate national and international discourse as their where about remains unknown after over ten months (Olanrewaju, 2014).Terrorist attacks on politicians and religious leaders are currently heating the polity (Ebije, 2014).The ability of the terrorists to successfully attack army and police barracks has created a sense of vulnerability among the population.
Apart from creating tension in the polity, the national economy is affected as the federal government expends huge cost in prosecuting war on terror on one hand, and on the other hand, the decline of economic activities in the country especially in the Northern parts of Nigeria.As people migrate from the vulnerable areas, the cases of internal displacement of people are now the issue of the moment as Nigeria is facing a fresh refugee problem.Again, terrorist activity in Nigeria at the moment, and its religious insurgence outlook, given the ethnic and religious diversities and sensitivity in Nigeria, the apparent problem is a serious threat to corporate existence of Nigeria as a socio-political entity.Against the above foregoing, is a palpable feeling of insecurity in Nigeria.Subsequently, the paper aims to investigate the impact of terrorism and moral panic in Nigeria particularly in Abuja, the nation's capital where many parts of the city have been bombed in recent time including the United Nations Office (Akinsuyi, 2016;Ugwu, 2014;Ugwu, Anumihe, Tsa, Mernyi, & Kilete, 2014;Abimbola & Adesoti, 2014).

Literature Review
At certain times, public anxiety about crime is escalated to such an extent that it has been argued to result to moral panic about particular crimes or criminals (Hayes & Prenzler, 2012, p. 6).Terrorism became widespread at the end of the Middle Ages when political leaders were frequently subject to assassination by their enemies (Siegel, 2013, p. 391).Different terrorist groups began with different cultural and economic resources, and also are tuned into the international community in different ways (Levi, 2007, p. 791).To be considered terrorism, an act must be aimed at a goal that sets it apart from a common-law crime committed for greed or egotism (Siegel, 2010, p. 169).Terrorism is an organized pattern of violence or threat of it meant to achieve a targeted purpose against opposed group which may be government, organization or a section of the population (Simonsen & Spindlove, 2004;Reid, 2000;Adler, Mueller, & Laufer, 1998).Act of terrorism is a social process which involves groups of people forming associations defining social realities, and taking actions based on the meanings given to those realities (White, 2014, p. 29).There are different types of terrorism like revolutionary, nationalist, cult, retributive, civil disorder, nonpolitical, state sponsored or political related terrorism (Siegel, 2010;Reid, 2000).Reid noted that the societies are victimized by terrorist acts which are taken against the immediate victim in a designed coercive manner as a signal to others of their characterized gross indifference toward the victims, their dehumanization, and their treatment as mere elements in a deadly power play.
The contemporary terrorism in Nigeria takes the pattern of revolutionary and political terrorism.The activities of Boko Haram insurgency in Northern parts of Nigeria on one hand show some revolutionary traits.Siegel (2010, p. 171), argued that revolutionary terrorists use violence to frighten those in power and their supporters in order to replace the existing government with a regime that holds acceptable ideological, political and religious views using assassination, bombing and kidnapping as a design to draw repressive responses from governments.This is in line with the mission of the Boko Haram terrorist group which claimed that their goal is to replace the secular government in operation in Nigeria with that of Islamic government.On the other hand, it is also political terrorism meant to create fear and division within the corporate political entity in Nigeria.Thus, as noted by Siegel (2010, p. 171), political terrorism is directed at people, groups with whom the terrorists live in close connection but who opposed the terrorists political ideology or who are defined as "outsiders" by the terrorists and must be either exiled or destroyed.Political terrorists want the government to be more sensitive to their views and see their ways (Siegel, 2010).
The modern form of political terrorism began in the late 19 th Century with Irish nationalists, Russian revolution, and anarchists in Europe and the United States (Crenshaw, 2009, p. 403).In 1959, Arafat formed Fatah, a guerrilla organization, to wage a campaign against the Israelis (White, 2014, p. 215).White noted that Arafat advocated the use of small-unit tactics and terrorist action again Israel.When Yasser Arafat formed the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the organization adopted terror tactics in its campaigns.Islamic radicals from the Arab world bombed New York's World Trade Center in 1993 because of United States support for Israel (Lyman, 2011;Thio, 2001;Swanson, Territo, & Taylor, 1998).In 1992, 142 anti-US attacks of terrorism were reported worldwide (Schmalleger, 1995, p. 684).In Italy in 1982, the Red Brigade terrorist group kidnapped an American, General Dozier, while in 1985, a French terrorist group, Action Directe, and the German Rote Armee Fraktion threatened NATO political alliance (Sterling, 1986).Sterling observed that between December 1984 and January 1985, there were 60 bombings of United States military installations in then West Germany, while at the same time, a Communist Combat Cell, bombed the NATO pipeline across Belgium and the bombings of the pipeline running from Torrejon to Saragossa in Spain which served U.S. and Spanish military forces.Henze (1986, p. 171), observed that until an already known Turkish terrorist, Mehmet Ali Agca, was exposed as the principal actor in the plot to kill Pope John Paul II in May 1981, and the Bulgarian connection with this sordid scheme became publicly known a year and half later, the full import of the Bulgarian role in destabilizing Turkey in the 1970s was also not realized.This implies that the above revelation was a follow up of the Turkish terrorist shooting of the Pope in the Vatican, Rome in 1981.
Other issues associated with terrorism also remain troubling, particularly those connected to the Palestine-Israel conflict, conditions in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and the future of Kashmir and Indo-Pakistani relations (Crenshaw, 2009, p. 401).As the world panic, Crenshaw noted that the United Nations, NATO and the EU moved immediately to develop counterterrorism policies based on international cooperation, which led NATO to invoke its collective defense provision for the first time in 2001.Terrorist campaigns that acquire traction and a degree of longevity are typically situated in a social environment that is somewhat amenable to mounting a sustained campaign, frequently because, it affords a degree of either tacit or explicit community support (Innes & Levi, 2012, p. 665).The authors argued that the metaphoric interest in terrorism that has followed the real explosions that took place in America in 2001 has, to a significant degree, gravitated around the activities of Al-Qaeda, the terrorist group headed by Osama bin Laden.But the most troubling aspect of the current terrorism sweeping across the globe is the Islamic militant fanaticism which has taken up arm across many parts of the world.Sookhdeo (2007), argued that the rise of Islamic terrorism worldwide is a phenomenon of our age.The US has taken the war on terror to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, Lebanon and Iraq.French troops are still fighting in West African country of Mali, for over a year and half, and instead of leaving, they are planning to expand their mission to fighting terrorism from the Atlantic coast to the Mediterranean (Oloja, 2014).Recently, the attention of the world was once again drawn to sad reality of terrorism, in a world that is increasingly becoming vulnerable when 17 media executives were murdered in Paris by Islamic terror group as a reprisal for what the terrorists termed offensive publications by a Paris based satirical magazine (Ogunbiyi, 2015).As the world grieved over the Paris killings, Islamic terrorists on March 18 th , 2015, stormed a museum in North African country of Tunisia, and shot dead 19 persons comprising mainly European tourists (Omotoso, 2015;Ukeh, 2015).
Subsequently, one can argue that terrorism across the globe has always been creating tensions in international diplomacy and to some extent, has also been affecting the global economy.
In East Africa, a Somali based militant Islamist group al-Shabaab terrorist organization, has continued to unleash terror in that region.In late November 2014, al-Shabaab militants killed non-muslim workers at a quarry in northwest Kenya, and also shot dead 28 non-muslim bus passengers on November 22, while about four people were killed in a car-bomb attack in Somali capital Mogadishu (Bagagbon, 2014, p. 53).On the intensification of their activities, on April 3 rd , 2015, an al-Shabaab terrorist attack on the Garissa University College in Kenya, drew global outcry following the massacre of 147 students and injuring hundreds others (Taiwo-Obalonye, 2015, p. 3).This was when the terrorists entered the university and isolated non-muslims from the muslims and killed non-muslims.For about three years now, parts of the far north of Nigeria have been under siege from terrorists.Boko Haram has been bombing school, churches, mosques, motor parks and markets, causing heavy human casualties and damage to properties (Mgboh, 2014;Abubakar, 2014;Matazu, 2014).On July 23, 2014, over 90 people were killed in bomb blasts in Kaduna, the capital of Kaduna Sate in a multiple bomb attack targeted at the former Nigeria military Head of State, who is now the new President of Nigeria, General Muhamadu Buhari and a popular Islamic scholar, Sheik Dahiru Bauchi (Ebue, 2014).
Since the activities of the Boko Haram Islamist terror group became pronounced in Nigeria, it had turned out to be one disaster after another in many parts of northern Nigeria.But the ability of the terrorists to strike many times in the nation's capital Abuja, created serious security challenges which had impacted on the psychology of the entire population in Nigeria (Olayinka & Musa, 2014).Subsequently, the feeling of vulnerability within the population gave rise to moral panic which previous studies at least in Nigeria have not much highlighted.This could be seen from the ongoing heavy fighting between the Boko Haram Islamist group and the government forces including aerial battles in parts of Northeast of the country (Ande, 2014;Anwar, Adamu, & Mutum, 2014).Somehow, terrorism is not necessarily to be found in the harshest regimes, since highly efficient dictatorships can make political violence extremely difficult, whereas it is a sad fact of life that regimes, which are either democratic or partly democratic, have become much more vulnerable to terrorist attacks (Hoffman & Graham, 2006).

Theoretical Explanation
This paper is based on strain theory which assumes that a built up constraint within the components parts of the social system will result to resentment by a section of the component system.Strain occurs when social relationships become frustrating to a section of the population or individuals.Mertom (1957), argued that what generate social strain in the society is due to constraints in the social structure as a result of imbalance in social relationships with a perceived disadvantage by a group or individuals.This implies that a perceived strain in the society generates disharmony which leads to deviance behaviour especially the violation of the law.Worchel, Cooper and Goethals (1991), captured the theme of this theory when they argued that terrorism is a response to conflict by disadvantaged groups with lesser resources.Strain could equally be a manifestation of vested interests by a section of the population.This is because, the conflicts emanating from vested interests within the social system, create strains that can result to a breakdown of law and order, especially violent confrontations against the government of the day and its security agencies.Reid (2000), equally observed that social strains are as a result of all types of negative relations between the individuals and orders.On this strength, strain theory explains this study given the nature of the violent confrontations by the Boko Haram against the Nigerian society on the basis of perceived grievances.The Boko Haram claimed that the reasons behind their war against the government in Nigeria is because of its nature of secular state which they claimed that the secular nature of the Nigerian society constraint them and constituted serious strain on their way of life as devoted muslims given the version of their Islamic doctrine.

Methodology
The study was conducted in Abuja, which had witnessed several bomb attacks in different parts of the city over the past two years.The study took place between the months of August and September, 2015.A cross-sectional survey was adopted using administered questionnaire as the main instrument.Accidental random technique was applied in the process of locating the 276 respondents who were sampled in the course of the study.The data used in the study comprised both primary and secondary data.While the questionnaire was used to obtain primary data, secondary data were sourced from literatures.The data generated through the questionnaire were analyzed using tables and simple percentages.Source: Data 2015.

Result
Table 1 indicates a high level of public panic by the people about terrorist attacks in Abuja.Given that 70% of the respondents indicated that they have fears on everyday basis, life in Abuja, Nigeria, is quite unsettled.This could be attributed to the spate of bombings in the city which cut across many bus parks, police headquarters, United Nations Office, shopping malls and worship places.Those who have fears on weekly basis constituted 10% while those who have fears on monthly basis were 7%.However, 13% of the respondents do not have any fear about terrorist attacks.Therefore, it can be argued that there are high level of panic in the nation's capital since 70% of the respondents used to be in a state of anxiety on daily basis.Since this is the case in the city, it is therefore, a clear indication that terrorist activities by the dreaded Boko Haram have altered the normal life of the people in Nigeria.Source: Data 2015.
Table 2 indicates that 81% of the respondents knew somebody who had been killed by the terrorist activities of Boko Haram.It is only 19% of the total number sampled that claimed of not knowing any person who had been killed by the terrorists.Since a higher percentage of 81% have the knowledge of people who have been killed by terrorist activities, the issues of personal fears, anxieties and moral panic could be established.In a situation of problems like the issue of terrorism in Nigeria, where a greater majority of the people have a personal knowledge of the dead victims of terrorism, the atmosphere will tend to create serious apprehension within the society.This implies that the people will have to suffer from high sense of personal risks from the activities of the terrorist group.Source: Data 2015.
Table 3 shows that all the respondents in the study knew at least one victim who had suffered property damage in the hands of the terrorists.It can be seen from the study that while all the respondents knew people who have suffered property damage.Again, 62% of the respondents knew more than two persons who were victims of property loss.This implies that there are widespread property damages that cut across wide spectrum of the people in the society.Again, 24% of the respondents knew two victims of property damage.While 14% knew one victim.One striking feature of the table is the fact that all the respondents sampled have clear knowledge about the destructive impacts of the present terrorist attacks in Nigeria, since all of them knew one or more victims who have suffered from the insurgents' campaign in Nigeria with its related pains.One can see from the study about the operational seriousness of the terrorists and the inroad they have made into their campaign, judging by the level of panic they have induced in Nigerian society.4 indicates that more than a quarter of the respondents 29%, agreed that they are in a very high level of personal risk about terrorist victimization.This is followed by 43% of the respondents who felt that their personal risk level is high.Put together, the group that perceived high level of personal risk constituted 72% of the total respondents.However, 16% of the respondents stated that their level of personal risk is low, while 3% of the respondents indicated that it is very low.Put together, 19% of the respondents felt that their personal risk is low.However, another 9% of the respondents were unsure about the level of their personal risk.Overall, 91% of the respondents felt to be at personal risk at one level or the other.This is a clear indication that the terrorist activities had given rise to moral panic in Nigeria.Given the present situation in Nigeria, it can be argued that people in Nigeria are under high risk of personal safety due to the activities of Boko Haram.
Table 5.Sources of information by the respondents about terrorist attacks Source: Data 2015.

Responses
Table 5 explores the sources through which the respondents obtained information concerning terrorist attacks.
The data indicate that 37% of the respondents relied on newspapers for their knowledge about the terrorism in Nigeria.Following the newspapers is the television in informing the public about the activities of the terrorist sect with 30% of the respondents who relied on the television for their information.The television is followed by radio network in which 19% of the respondents claimed that they received most of their information about Boko Haram by radio network.The data indicate that 86% of the respondents relied on both the print and electronic media as their sources of information.However, 7% stated that their major source of information is through their neighbours, while 4% said that their source of information is through their relations.Respondents who receive their information by other sources stand at 3%.The above data highlighted how mass media contribute to the heightening of moral panic in the society.The argument from this study is that mass media by its nature of disseminating of news constitute itself in a way as an agent of moral panic in the society.Source: Data 2015.
Table 6 explained the views of the respondents about the appropriate measures to the security problems regarding terrorism in Nigeria.In that regard, 71% of the respondents were of the views that the improvement of security network is the answer for the heightened apprehension on the part of the people in Nigeria.This implies that relevant security agencies are not living up to the expectation of the people.On the other hand, 29% of the respondents were of the view that public awareness about the security challenges and its complexities will go a long way in educating the people on how to cope with the current problems of terrorism in the country.It can be argued that the improvement of the security and the enlightenment programme in a form of public education were the only measures advocated by the respondents in the study.

Discussion
The principal findings in this study are that the regularity by which people have to be panicked is high such that 70% of the respondents stated that they have panic on everyday basis.This goes to show the extent the impact of the activities of the Boko Haram have caused panic on the psyche of the Nigerian people, more especially the people in the northern parts of the country.This could not be surprising since Abuja came under series of bombings between 2011-2015 (Kilete, 2015;Ugwu, Anumihe, Tsa, Mernyi, & Kilete, 2014;Abimbola & Adesoti, 2012).There are also those who have other varying levels of regularity of panic apart from the 70% who used to panic on daily basis.The position of the respondents who suffer panics on everyday basis was strengthened by another set of data which indicated that 81% of those sampled have personal knowledge of somebody who had been killed through terrorist attacks.Those attacks cut across various segments of the society (Ebue, 2014).
As was shown in the study, the victims of the terrorist attacks in terms of property damage had such a spread to the extent that 62% of the respondents have the personal knowledge of more than two persons who have suffered property damage in the hands of the Boko Haram organization.In addition, 24% of the respondents knew two persons who have suffered property damage.This implies that over 80% of the respondents have the knowledge of at least two victims of terrorist attacks in terms of loss of personal belongings.The study indicated how the effect of terrorism had permeated into the orientation of ordinary people in Nigeria in which over 70% of the respondents indicated that they perceive a high sense of personal risk with those of very high 29% and high 43%.
It can be argued that in a situation where over 70% of the people sampled suffer from a perceived personal risk, there are indications that normal life must be affected and lifestyles altered in accordance to a threatening aggression against the people.
The study corroborated the critical role of the media in inflaming public anxiety in a period of national security challenges as the study ascertained that 86% of the respondents claimed that the major sources of their information about the activities of Boko Haram are through mass media; newspapers, radio and television.This indicated the role of the mass media in escalating public anxiety that result to moral panic (Hayes & Prenzler, 2012;Dambazau, 2007).This implies that mass media, in the process of marketing news in Nigeria have enhanced the image and the mission of the terrorist organization at the detriment of the national security.That is, as the mass media endeavour to inform the public on one hand, they are promoting the objectives of the terrorists on the other hand by heightening fears in the society which is the main instrument the terrorists wanted to use to achieve their aims.However, the study indicated that if the government could improve on security system, the activities of the terrorists could be curtailed and panic among the people mitigated.That was the views of the 71% of the respondents.Another 29% of the respondents stated that the alternative solution could be for the government to embark on public awareness programme for a kind of public education about the real situation on ground.In this sense, public awareness has its own merits as it has the prospects of countering the nature of sensational headlines by the media meant only to market the news at the expense of the comfort of the general public.

Conclusion
In the study of terrorism and moral panic in Nigeria, it was found that the Nigerian state is facing serious security challenges as a result of the harm done to the development process by the acts of terrorism and the effects of the war on terrorism in the country.So far, the terrorists' tactics have proved effective such that the people within the area of terrorist operations are under panic on everyday basis.Since all the respondents agreed that they have a personal knowledge of victims who have suffered property damage and a greater number of them have personal knowledge of somebody who had been killed in the terrorist attacks, the public apprehension that result to moral panic is justified.As a result, this study agreed that the fear about terrorism in Nigeria is about "Fear of Personal Harm" (FoPH), and "Fear of Personal Loss" (FoPL) (Moore & Shepherd, 2007).This was amply demonstrated by over 70% of the respondents who considered themselves to be in a high level of personal risk.It was further validated by the recent events in Abuja and northeast Nigeria.Just as the report of this study was being finalized, Abuja, the study area, again, came under series of bombings by the terrorists using suicide bombers which resulted to multiple deaths and injuries (Ikuomola, 2015;Ali, 2015;Kilete, 2015;Anumihe, 2015;Olanrewaju, 2015).
From the findings of the study, it can be argued that the mass media had contributed in escalating public apprehension in the country by its way of sensational headlines.This is in line with previous literatures on the role of the mass media in heightening those things that constitute criminological problems in the society (Peelo, Francis, Soothill, Pearson, & Ackfrley, 2004;Warr, 2000).Therefore, in addition to the actual devastations resulting from terrorism, are, the negative effects of the antics of the mass media.To mitigate to the problems, two things are paramount.The issues of adequate security and public awareness programme.Since terrorism is a global problem especially the Islamic insurgency, which has been on the rise over the decades in many parts of the world, it is not a different problem to the Nigerian government for the emergence of terrorist organization on its soil.The military action adopted by the Nigerian government is in line on how governments in other parts of the world have approached their security problems arising from Islamic terrorism.The trans-national nature of Boko Haram which cuts across Republic of Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria, now demands a complete security build-up as the major part of the solution.Other measures that can mitigate the problems including opportunities for higher education, job creation and programmes aimed at poverty reduction.The is because, it is believed that some of the factors that push some people to join the terrorist group are not on the basis of ideology but the issues of lack of good education, unemployment and poverty.It could therefore be argued that when these existential challenges are tackled, the ranks and the strength of the terror group can be reduced to a manageable level which will go a long way in enhancing the efforts in combating terrorism in Nigeria.

Table 1 .
The frequency of fear/panic by the people about terrorist acts in Abuja

Table 2 .
Knowledge of persons killed by the terrorist activities

Table 3 .
Knowledge of persons who have suffered property damage from terrorist attacks

Table 4 .
The level of perceived personal risk

Table 6 .
Strategies that can mitigate panic about terrorism